The next move

I am starting to get my house back to normal after the craziness that was our last two weeks. There were things for the yard sale in every room of my house, I kid you not. Poor Grasshopper still has an infant carseat (his, originally) in his bedroom because it hasn't made it's way back to the attic. Why did it leave the attic? Because JR knows that I was never really crazy about it and thought that we might sell it in the yard sale. I vetoed that idea because we'll be adopting an older infant this time around, not a newborn, and so we won't need to use it for very long. I may not love it, but I don't want to replace it for 3 months of use either! So there it sits in Grasshopper's room waiting for one of us to prioritize its return to the attic. Based on how sore I am after my workout today, I don't think it's going anywhere soon. Sorry kid!

JR and I are thrilled that we made as much money as we did on Saturday, but at the same time it's a little frustrating to know that $1500.00 is really a drop in the bucket compared to the total amount needed. My friend Julie at LLOL (Literally Laughing Out Loud) left the following comment on my last post, and it occurred to me that other readers might be wondering the same things.

Oh, Natasha - that's WONDERFUL. I feel like such a heel - I am behind in blogs and didn't know you were having the sale. I'm so happy for you - both that you're raising the money and that you're faith in your fellow human beings has been restored. Do you have other fundraising ideas? How can we help? How much have you raised altogether and how much do you need to raise?

So in answer to your questions Julie (and fellow faithful visitors to Mom Street) we have saved/raised a total of just over $7,000 to date. We need $20,000.

I am choosing to look at this as "Hey, we're over a third of the way there!" instead of, "Good grief, we still need $13,000 and I don't know where it's going to come from" because that way lies MADNESS.

We have cut a lot of "extras" from our lives (as have most Americans these days) in order to put more into our dedicated adoption savings account. We are still contributing to JR's 401K, sending Grasshopper to preschool, and putting money in savings for our family. It won't be a problem for us to support our second child once we bring her (I'm going to go ahead and admit that I really want a girl this time) home, but coming up with 20K in cash isn't easy for most families, I imagine. The US government provides a very generous tax credit of around $12,000 for adoption, but you don't get that until well after your adoption is complete!

That leads me to what you might be able to do to help. The idea of asking for charity is really tough for JR and I to swallow. However, I have come up with what I think is a pretty creative way to allow people to help us financially and be recognized for their contribution. What I need right now is feedback from you guys, my readers and friends, as to whether this is something you would like to see me try or if asking for money on my blog is utterly obnoxious and will cause you to remove Mom Street from your Reader forever. I love this blog. I love the friendships I've made, the outlet it provides and the record of Grasshopper's childhood it's creating. I don't want to alienate anyone.

So, here's the idea: I'm calling it "Be a Piece of the Puzzle." The idea is to find a puzzle for our new child's room that is in some way reflective of The Land Far Away or just the world in general that is around 100 pieces. I will put a Paypal donation button on the blog and encourage people to purchase puzzle pieces for $10 each. Then I will write the name of the contributor on their piece(s) and when the puzzle is complete I'll frame it and hang it in her room. That way she will be able to see the names of all of the people who helped us bring her home.

What do you think?

Once I subtract the money for the puzzle itself and the frame, we'll still make close to $1000.00 towards the adoption and give those people who may want to help an opportunity to do so.

But how will it be received? I don't know. This post is my way of testing the water, so please share your response to the idea with me. And be honest!!!

**Edited to add: Those of you who read here regularly know which country we're adopting from. Due to some privacy concerns, I am no longer referring to that country by name. I am calling it The Land Far Away (TLFA). I would appreciate it if you follow suit in your comments. If you mention the country by name I will not be able to publish your comment, and we all know how hard that is for a blogger! Don't make me do it! Thanks for understanding.**